Most smokeless tobacco products are provided to the consumer in circular cardboard, metal or moulded plastic containers having a seal enclosing them prior to the first opening. When a consumer wishes to access the product, the seal is broken, the lid removed, and the desired amount of smokeless tobacco removed from the container. The lid is then replaced until further access to the product is required.
Such containers are normally discarded once the contents of the container have been consumed and thus there is a continued requirement that such articles can be manufactured in large quantities but at low cost. Known containers for smokeless tobacco products generally comprise a lower and upper section, the upper section of which may form a lid which allows the container to be opened and closed repeatedly to access the contents thereof until the container is empty.
Due to the inexpensive construction of conventional smokeless tobacco containers and the repeated opening and closing of the conventional lids, the lids tend to deform easily and become loose. Thus, once the seal is broken, the conventional containers and lids fail to provide the tight seal required to retain the flavour and freshness of the product and are known to cause unwanted spills.
A further significant disadvantage of the prior art containers is that as the containers themselves are manufactured to be easily accessed by the user, this in turn makes it easy for persons under the legal age requirement for consuming tobacco products and children in particular to access or indeed consume the contents thereof if the containers are left unattended.